What more can I do to protect other buyers? - UPDATED - they're at it again 28/10/06

grandslamgirl

mishkanorman wrote:

True, but the seller doesnt know its here, and they havent been given a chance to defend themselves in any way.

If pennywise has had problems with a seller i agree that they should report it but asking others to join in when they themselves have had no problems with a seller seems wrong (to me ) especially when there is no evidence that this seller is the same person (they may live near original seller and purchased all their stock )


Perhaps the OP should contact the seller and point them towards this thread so they can at least see that people dont tolerate scamming and give them a chance to respond.





mishka

I would like to think that the majority of people reading this thread would be able to make up their own minds as to the guilt/innocence of this seller and act accordingly.
I have read Pennywise's reasoning and have checked the information she gave and feel that the seller is probably a scammer but I will not report him/her until I have some evidence for myself.

I think it's a good thing that some people go to the trouble of trying to warn others about potential scammers.

If the seller/scammer were given a chance to defend him/herself on here what do you think they'd say?
"I'm so so sorry for any problems that may have occurred with previous sales but I'm a changed person now, honest gov."

I think not.

Pennywise

Thanks for the support (some of you!). Rest assured, the identification of this seller was my last option. As you will note from the earlier posts in August, I was just asking for advise as to how to go about stopping them conning people and didn't actually give their id at that time, although I was asked to do. I had no choice but to watch as my worries came to fruition as 17 people neg'd them for non delivery (and probably others as well who couldn't neg as they were eventually suspended).

Also, rest assured, that if I had any doubt it was the same person, I would never have identified them. I was proved right about their new id last time, and am 99% certain about their new id and that others will get conned as well.

So, the reasons I believe it is the same person:-

1. Selling virtually the same "group" of items, including a batch of track, signal motors, invincible loco, railfreight loco, hogwarts loco, mallard loco, station canopy, etc. The odds must be millions to one that different people have virtually identical items to sell!

2. Their description style is very simple and basic in the two ids mentioned and also their previous ids (also suspended earlier in the year). Their description for items 320043055319 and 160023924626 is in fact identical.

3. Their feedback wording is quite unique and identifiable - lots of "A1" and "+++" in both.

4. Some of the items sold, I can actually trace back to when they were purchased under different ids, for example the gordon loco and the railfreight loco.

5. I have actually been shadowing this seller since the beginning of 2006. At the start, the extent of their deception was buying cheap items which were second hand or damaged in some way and passing them off as new, then they moved onto non delivery (which at first appeared accidental or negligent) and now they seem to be into intentional deception/theft as can be seen by their feedback on trainworld2005.

And no, I don't have a fixation about these people. I was conned by them several months ago, and just want to help others be wary and not get conned as well. I'm not out for revenge although I can see it looks that way. They are easy to spot because they always "sell" the same things a couple of which are quite rare and stand out in the listings to someone like me who is on the lookout for them.

All I am asking for is for a few more people to report this seller. Just reporting a seller to ebay is not actually doing anything harmful to the seller, after all, ebay will do their own checks before they pull the auctions and if the seller does turn out to be a coincidental innocent, then ebay won't take any action. The point is that ebay are notorious for ignoring people's complaints and so as was suggested earlier in this thread, a few more people reporting the seller may help it come to the notice of an ebay person who actually bothers to look into it. If you aren't comfortable, then don't report them, simple!